Excellent book. Well written, and in the right vein for kids. Too many coaches today push these kids to the point of making them drop out of running. And worse, they ruin that kid for what could be a fun and rewarding activity into their adult lives.

This book covers in systematic order the pros of training and setting up a four-pronged approach to training and the cons of over training. I especially appreciated the coach examples of the schools that were included. The pictures are a good reference for all the stretch activities.

This is a must book for a coach who is working with this age group. They hit it right on the head and if you follow the guidance in the book, you'll turn out winners and lifetime runners - who have FUN!

Coach John

This is the second best training book for runners i have read ( Daniels running formula is number 1)it is stillgood value for money and covers most things..there are so many crappy garbage filled running books out there it makes me sick..so when a good one comes along you know it...i coach young athletes and found this book about 80% usefull...good value

Great book, for coaches who are training young distance runners. Lots of ideas for the coach to build on as he navigates the pubescence years of both male and female athletes.

I've been running for 35 years and coaching for many so I expected to pick up a book that would give some insight into a young runner's mind or some biomechanical needs of a young runner. The book is a cursory view of coaching and training. It's fine if you are just starting out with no background. But where's the meat and potatoes?

I am a Cross Country Coach for Lakeshore Middle School in Stevensville, MI and am building a program. I found the "Training for Young Distance Runners" book to be very helpful. I have found the section on Psychology right on target. I have a son that runs High School Cross Country who runs year around and after a successful summer road racing season started the Cross Country Season doing very poorly. Using the Psychology section helped me get him back on track. The Nutrition section has also been helpful for some of my runners. I give the book a two thumbs up.

kandssteve@qtm.net Steve Nielsen

I liked how this booked emphasized how important mental training should be integrated into a good, solid training prog. The scientific aspect is easy to understand though not nearly as thorough or complex as Martin and Coe's book. The training is very conservative, but the strength training advice was very helpful.